Ordering T61p... Is this a good config?

Due to the seemingly awesome sale on Thinkpads going on this weekend, I'm thinking of buying two T61p's with the specs outlined below for work purposes. My question is, do any of you Thinkpad 'experts' have any suggestions, configuration changes or such for me before I place the order? A little more info on my needs follows the configuration list.

These new laptops are for business only, so I don't need gaming power or bells and whistles, just power for graphics creation and other business uses. They MUST have discrete graphics chips with at least 128MBs of dedicated RAM and they must also run WinXP Pro. Vista is not an option. The software most used would be PhotoShop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, web and email programs, and very graphic and video intensive PowerPoint presentations. There might also be a few video uses thrown in every now and again, mostly for playback within other programs like PowerPoint, but there will be some minor video editing done in After Effects. I don't care about the weight as long as they're under 10lbs each, looks don't matter at all and screen size is ultimately unimportant, but I prefer widescreen because of PhotoShop and Illustrator.

Due to bad experiences, which I won't go in to here, and/or business necessity I will probably never again consider purchasing from Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway/e-Machines or Apple.

Thanks!

 

Nice config , nice price. Is this an ad?

 

I'd drop back to a Quadro NVS 140M (128MB) by getting another model and upgrade the battery to a 9-cell for longer runtimes.

 

Not an expert here, but I did just do the research and bought a T61p yesterday. The discrete graphics card was important to me to keep AutoCAD snappy and be ready for the 3D set of tools that architect clients rave will show up 'any day now' (Revit anyone?). I decided the T61p is a good choice, my only comments are:

I went with 1 gig of RAM from IBM and am ordering up a 2 gig stick today for about $100.

I went for the 3 year depot warranty and protection program, but I use my laptops hard and am pretty sure I'll get my money's worth out of it (I have a T40 going in to replace a broken hinge and get a new keyboard tomorrow - it's 34 months old).

I've heard rumors of the 15.4 being a power hog relative to the 14.1", so I grabbed a 9-cell batt.

I went Vista, but I am a technological masochist and have a full version of XP pro on the shelf in reserve.

Saying "I don't care about weight" is basically putting on a hot pink tutu and waving a 8' x 8' fluorescent green "I should buy an R series!" sign while doing the can-can on a street corner, but the R-series would only get you a 128 meg discrete graphics, so I think the T61p is probably worth the extra cash.

Those are all my thoughts, hopefully one of the actual experts will chime in. Oh, and the sale does indeed look to be good. Best I've seen for the last 3-4 months I've been watching.

 

Thanks guys for such quick responses!

ukwahoo:
Not an ad. I found out about the sale thanks to this forum and configed the laptop on Lenovo's US site.

dave932932:
I don't need battery power since these laptops will always be plugged in and the Quadro NVS isn't offered on the T61p.

jhw539:
Where did you buy the RAM from? I've been looking for a good deal on a 2GB stick but the only one I found was from Crucial for over $200. Since I buy new laptops for business every year, I only need these to last for one year so any warranty lasting longer than a year would be a waste for me. I agree about the R series, but seeing as how the graphics chipset is better in the T series, I thought that was the way to go. Was I wrong?

 

The thread I linked to in my first response seems to be pretty well updated on RAM deals - I ended up hitting Newegg, they usually do well for me. Crucial appears to recommend a memory chip that is overspec'd for the Thinkpad - it'll clock down, but I just went directly for the same PC2-5300 667MHZ spec Lenovo is selling.

The 256 meg graphics chipset is the best you can get in the Thinkpads as far as I know. I am sure it's no coincidence that this graphics card is only available on their top-of-the-line model. You're probably right to go with it (if you're on a one-year cycle, you probably want to buy the just-released top-of-the-line).

Only other comment I have is you may want to sign up for fatwallet.com. There have been rumors that it stacks with most coupons, and even the EPP pricing. Not sure if it really does, but it is trivial to sign up, click through to Lenovo from their page and then check back in a few months to see if the 3.5% rebate made it through. Newegg also offers a 1% cashback from them.

 

I wouldn't say Apple is bad. They're actually doing very well, and their new notebooks are pretty awesome.

 

jhw539:
Thanks for the linked info on Newegg's RAM! I don't know why, but when I searched their site for the RAM I needed it kept showing me desktop computers from HP. It was getting frustrating. However, I think I'll order the machines with 2GBs and not get the memory separate since it would cost me about $250 for 3GBs (one 2GB stick for each machine) vs. $60 for 2GBs pre-loaded. I can always buy more RAM later when they go down in price if I feel I need it.

Ghost_Recon23:
I agree that Apple's machines are pretty cool. However, Apple falls under the "business necessity" column for me. I have to have WinXP for business reasons and buying an apple laptop only to use it as a Windows machine is a waste of money and time for me.

 

So. I just placed my order for two of the T61p's in the configuration I listed above. Now, if only I could rid myself of this feeling that I might have been too quick and will come to regret my purchase...

 

LOL, I feel your pain. I did the same thing to jump on Memorial Day + EPP discounts. I was looking at the HP 8510w for a long long time, but finally realized the T61p will be better for me due to keyboard layout!

 

The only thing I see wrong with the 8510W, or any of the HP's for that matter is the lack of ExpressCard support. It's something I use so I would never buy one for that reason. But they do look like some nice machines on paper.